Agents of SHIELD: Dark Knight
by MarvelMatt
Summary: [3rd in the AoS: Knight series] When SHIELD 616 are tasked with capturing the anarchist known as 'The Joker', they end up back in Gotham City. Working together with ex-Agent Grant Ward (now fully embracing his heroic identity as Batman), they decide to work together again.Ward struggles to deal with his two sons joining him in the field, and things get harder when Raina resurfaces.
1. Back to the Bat

**Chapter One - Back to the Bat**

* * *

**_SIX MONTHS AFTER THE EVENTS OF 'KNIGHT OF NEW YORK'_**

* * *

"Okay people, gimme a sit-rep. FitzSimmons?"

"Still all clear on the security footage Sir"

"Keep looking. May?"

"Clear"

"Skye?"

"Nothing here AC"

"Anything Tripp?"

"Nothing here on the inside Sir"

May and Skye were sat in two different cafés across the street from Dover National Bank. Coulson was posing as a bank teller, while FitzSimmons were back in The Bus scanning over the security footage, checking all possible entrances to the bank. Their targets had developed a pattern, but working at S.H.I.E.L.D. had taught them to never get complacent.

Triplett was inside the bank, posing as a customer when they broke in.

Wearing the same haggard clown masks that they had worn in their other bank heists, they stormed the bank. This time was different. Usually they entered all six through the main doors, took what they could and walked out. Generally with hostages and bloodshed.

This time was different.

Two entered through the roof, disabling the alarm, causing Skye to have to call in the Dover PD. They had just finished disabling the alarm when one clown killed the other, Simmons squeaked and grabbed Fitz's arm while he updated the team. Apparently they were being betrayed.

_Or worse,_ Skye thought, _their mysterious leader is tying up loose ends._

She registered May arguing that they should move in, but Coulson was keeping them outside.

As the clown from the rooftop finally managed to crack open the bank vault, he was shot twice in the head from behind, generating a tighter clamp on Fitz's arms from Simmons, while the offending clown filled up the sacks they'd brought with cash, before joining his two remaining friends upstairs, before they moved towards the bank's exit.

Tripp darted from his hiding place on the ground, raising his ICER and dropping one of the clowns instantly, the dark blue veins signifying his lost consciousness. The other two turned and fired towards him, dropping behind a desk for cover.

Triplett advanced, emptying his magazine as he did so. He was mid-reload when one stood up and sent a bullet into his shoulder, before turning his gun on his partner.

"I bet the boss told you to kill me didn't he?"

"No no no, I kill the bus driver"

Almost as though on cue, a school bus burst through the side of the building, straight into the clown pointing the gun.

The back doors were thrown open as clown number six appeared, and they started loading the money into the back of bus. They had loaded most of it when realization that his allies were missing hit him.

"Hey, what happened to-"

He was cut off by the gunshots to his chest.

The only remaining clown, threw the last bag into the bus, and turned to leave when Tripp called out to him, "Your boss, he'll just kill you. I'm with SHIELD. Help us get him"

The clown stalked over to him, reaching him he grabbed the back of his head and forced a grenade into his mouth, before speaking in a calm, yet terrifying tone.

"You believe I'll help you because that's what you're taught to believe. You believe in the system don't you? In the goodness of normal people. You wanna know what I believe?" He forcibly nodded Tripp's head, "I believe what doesn't kill you simply makes you", he reached up to remove his mask, "stranger".

Under the clown mask was a terrifying sight. FitzSimmons let out matching shrieks, as did most of the bank's occupants. Coulson halted in his attempt to reach Tripp when he saw him.

His skin was bleached white, clashing against his bright green hair and stained yellow teeth. The worst part though were his lips and eyes. The lips are scarred, as though he's taken a razor to them, and he now wears a permanent grin, the red skin stretched sickeningly. And the eyes … the eyes have that maniacal gleam of someone that enjoyed causing pain and destruction. It's a look that Tripp seen once before on a man.

_Not a man – a psychopath. NO! He was a monster for what he did._

It's a look that Tripp fears.

He watches as the clown, now identified by Skye in his ear as 'The Joker', drops a playing card on the floor, and heads to the bus. Unable to move due to the bullet in his shoulder, he watches as the bus pulls out and into a cue of school buses that are passing. The grenade set off but emits a green smoke instead of the usual white, but he's already inhaled.

The mission's a failure and The Joker's escaped.

_That's funny._

"Ha ha"

"Agent Triplett, are you okay?" Simmons voice filters through their comms system as Coulson rushes towards him.

_Really funny_.

"HA Ha ha"

"Tripp…" Coulson's voice cuts in as he grabs the younger agent by the shoulders.

_Hilarious really._

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

The pain of laughter and the stretch of his face grinning is all he can remember before his world fades to white.

* * *

"What happened to him Simmons?"

They've all crowded in the lab, where in the safety of The Bus, they're free to discuss Tripp's condition. Getting him past the DPD without taking him to Dover General Hospital was a logistical nightmare, but they'd managed, and now they were all crowded around his bedside while Simmons looked him over, checking his vitals as she went, before composing herself in front of her family.

"Well Sir, as far as I can tell, he's been dosed with some kind of venom or poison that's causing his body to break out into this ridiculous grin"

"Can you reverse it?"

"Without access to the original formula …" she trailed off, looking upset "it's doubtful at best Sir. I'd need a fresh sample"

He sighed, looking around the conference table at the rest of his team. All wearing similar expressions of worry, as he asked the question at the forefront of his mind.

"Will it kill him?"

"Not as long as he's taken care of. He'll have breathing difficulties, and nutrition will be a tad tricky Sir, but he'll survive"

"Okay so we need to find him and obtain a fresh sample of his toxin. Skye, where are we at tracking this guy"

"I've used a SHIELD Satellite and scanner to search for the licence plate on the school bus he was using, but it was found abandoned in the middle of an old highway. There was only one nearby city within travelling distance though, especially taking into account the money bags he'd have to carry"

"Where?" The team focuses all of their attention on the young hacker, all visibly pleased with her results as a small smile graced her face.

"It's Gotham. Gotham City"

"Agent May set a course, looks like we'll be there in time for thanksgiving. We should call Ward", his eyes flicked towards Tripp's sleeping form, "we should all spend Thanksgiving together, as a fam-"

He trailed off, his eyes becoming downcast, which had been his usual pose whenever Ward had come up as a conversation topic. May and Simmons shoot Skye a pleading look as she panics.

"Erm…"

"So should we call Ward or Batman? I can't tell the difference between them anymore" Fitz's joke brought a round of chuckles, "oh wait … one is a hard-ass who hates pretty much anybody who breathes and can terrify you with a glare … the other is The Batman", he earns a few chuckles for his attempt at humour, "ooh I can give him-"

"Yes Fitz we know, you haven't stopped talking about it since he sent you that message", Simmons chided gently.

Smiling gently, Coulson looked up towards his team, shooting them a brief "Dismissed", before heading up to his office.

There were general murmurings of excitement as the team split up before take-off, the younger agents looking forward to seeing their missing member. There seemed to be an upside to chasing down a psychopath, even a completely deranged one.

* * *

"GO ON BOYS!"

Grant Ward's yells were mixed in with those of the other proud parents and guardians as they watched Gotham Academy's track team compete in the last race of the day – the relay, and he was proud to say both of his boys were on the team. Though with all the extra training they did with him that was hardly surprising.

Richard John 'Dick' Grayson was the first person he'd ever met that he could truly call a member of his family. He'd taken him in as his ward after settling in Gotham City, and becoming the night vigilante known as the 'The Batman'. Dick had discovered his base of operations under his house - his 'Batcave' (Dick's name for it, though he now used it too), and had asked him for training to help catch his parent's killer, Tony Zucco. They'd stuck together and were then known as 'Batman and Robin' and 'The Dynamic Duo', needless to say, they were partners, as well as father and son.

Jason Todd was a different story altogether.

He'd adopted Jason at Dick's insistence.

When his old house had burnt down, he'd rebuilt it, and the Batcave underneath, to be much more accommodating. So Dick's argument was that they needed to use the space.

_Sound logic … I've trained him well._

Jason was the son of Joseph and Trina Todd. They were close to the worst parents he'd ever heard off, second only to his. Joseph was a low level enforcer for Carmine 'The Roman' Falcone, who had been killed during a police raid, because he tried to fight his way out. His mother Trina was a drunk, and had dropped him off at an orphanage before leaving the city. He hadn't heard from her since.

While it had taken Dick weeks to discover his identity of Batman, it had taken Jason four days, after he followed them into the Batcave one night. It had taken him longer to agree to train the boy, but he couldn't argue with the results. While Dick was a natural acrobat and technician, being much better at hacking than Grant was, Jason was a natural fighter, like Grant himself, the only problem he had now was his weapon of choice.

Jason preferred using ICERs. It didn't matter that they were non-lethal, Grant Ward did not like guns, not since his release.

_Never again._

He agreed with Ra's al Ghul – his fallen mentor, leader of The League of Assassins – guns were a coward's weapon. They lacked control, finesse. They only lead to death.

So he kept his ICERs locked away in the securest part of the Batcave. Not even Dick knew where they were, and he'd helped with the redesign, and so, he'd began training him in different forms on marksmanship. They'd began with throwing stars, before they'd moved onto the birdarangs.

And then, several weeks ago, they'd used up their last suit of armour to create a second Robin suit – Robin Mark II.

So the 'Dynamic Duo' become the 'Terrible Trio' (Dick's name – again, though they refused to use that) of Batman, Robin and Robin II – unbeknownst to the rest of Gotham City, who they'd managed to convince that there was only one Robin.

He watched on the last stage of the relay as Dick passed the baton to Jason, whose powerful strides meant that he easily overtook Brentwood's lead runner and snagged a win for the team.

He felt that sensation in his chest, which had taken him along time to come to understand as pride, not for himself, but for his boys as he watched them accept their medals on the winner's podium, slipping the camera from his jacket pocket, he snapped a picture of the entire team, which also included the younger Tim and the older Roy, deciding to get one of them separately in a minute.

He waited alongside the other parents while the boys showered and changed, talking with Selina, who was there to cheer on her friend Holly, who volunteered to work with the cats.

He still didn't understand why they didn't prefer dogs.

_Or bats._

* * *

Walking out, one arm over each of their shoulders and smiling proudly, they headed towards his SUV, when they both stopped in front of him, turning with their attempts at puppy dog eyes, causing him to roll his.

"Graaanntt…"

"Daaaddd…"

He rolled his eyes again, which was a habit he found himself responding with more often, now that he had two of them to take care of, "What do you both want?"

"Weeellllll…"

"They're having a party at Roy's. Can we go Dad? Oliver's fine with it"

He opened his mouth before closing it, attempting to find a logical argument allowing him to say "No", but he couldn't, neither one was particularly irresponsible, with both of them being calm and collected most of the time, though Jason had a temper when he was pushed, but he just couldn't find a completely valid reason.

"No alcohol, and be home by midnight"

"Sir yes Sir", came the reply from both of them, complete with mock salutes, before Dick caught a glance over his shoulder, and his signature smirk appeared, "you'll probably be busy anyway", and he nodded his head.

Grant Ward turned to come face-to-face with the smiling face of Skye.

* * *

He climbed into the driver's side of his SUV as his boys disappeared, and slipped the key into the ignition while he waited for her to decide to follow him, before she slides into the passenger's seat, he turned the engine on and she propped her sneaker clad feet on his dashboard.

His immaculately clean and polished dashboard.

"Get your feet off my dash"

She does as he asks and pouts at him, while she fights a smile that he can see she's dying to show, which combined with the plaid shirt and jeans reminds him of when they first met, while he lets his own grin appear on his face.

"Aww look at that. The Tin Man found his heart"

He rolls his eyes, yet again, "Well you already have a brain and courage, so are you Dorothy or Toto or in this scenario?"

She snorts slightly which he finds adorable, and then smacks him on the arm, and he chuckles in response, causing her to grin wider. He's tempted to kiss her, but he's driving, and she'd probably quip that he's not wired for that.

_It'd be worth it though._

* * *

He mentioned that they were heading to his house, and she expected a similar set-up to his old one - a small, two bedroomed house, with a large fence and electronic gate. She can quite honestly say she's blown away by what she sees.

The house has two floors, and it covers most of the land that was there originally, as well as the forest area that burnt down during Ducard's attack. The outer brickwork is its natural red colour, and the black fence is apparently electrified, and requires a passcode (3175564448 - Ward types too slowly). While only two floors high, the length made it look much more impressive.

They pulled into his garage (brand new of course – she thinks it used to be his sitting room), and with her consent, proceeded to show her around the rest of his new house.

The upstairs was just bedrooms and two communal bathrooms. The master bedroom (Ward's) had an en-suite. All of the bathrooms were basic white wall tiles and grey floor tiles with white ceramic furnishings. The bedroom itself had cream coloured walls, a light tan carpet and oak wood drawers and wardrobes.

As a testament to the size of the house, there were another seven bedrooms on the top floor. Dick's and Jason's were the most easily identifiable by the bright red walls and curtains, as well as several posters of their favourite bands. She may not have physically met Jason yet, but from what she's gathered from emailing Ward, she can tell the room decorated in heavy metal posters was his, while Dick seemed to prefer the much lighter pop music.

_At least there's some differences between them._

That left five other bedrooms, each one followed the basic scheme of different shades of blue, when she realized a pattern to the few decorations that each room had. They were based on the team. One had storage space for watches in red, white and blue (Coulson), one had a large floor space, as well as small waterfall feature (May), the one painted in light blue instead of the darker blues had small monkeys stitched onto the sheets (FitzSimmons), and another had a small weights bench and dumbbells (Triplett).

"So where's mine?"

"Yours huh?"

"Yep", she said, popping the 'P', "everyone else seems to have a pre-prepared room. Where's mine?"

He just kept up that annoying smirk of his, as she spoke, before he interrupted, "Actually I-"

She just stormed into the last room, and walked into … a small library, as he trailed in behind her.

"Oh … so I don't actually get a room"

He scratched his head, looking slightly abashed as he did, "Well … not really"

"Not really?"

"Here", he reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a small key, pressing it into her palm.

"Is this …?"

"A key to the house? Yes. I want all of you to be welcome here whenever you all need a place to go, whether it's a vacation or a hide-out. You will always be welcome here. As for a room, you could always share with me"

"Hmm, I'm not sure whether or not the bed's comfortable enough for me to be able to sleep in. I think we should test it out first"

"Well, I mean…", he stammers, before pulling himself together, "if it's about comfort, who am I to disagree?"

* * *

Only when there was a small buzzing sound coming from downstairs did they leave the atmosphere of the bedroom. Ward pulled on a form fitting black t-shirt and dark jeans, and slipped into his boots, and turned to watch as Skye finished changing, feigning shyness as she did so.

She followed him downstairs and into his entry room, watching as he headed towards a small television set, matching the one on the gate. He flicked a switch and the small TV turned on to show Coulson's face.

"Sir?"

"Ward, I take it by your tone that Skye didn't mention we were coming by"

He looked over his shoulder towards Skye, who shrugged, "I was distracted", fighting the grin from appearing on his face, he turned back towards the screen.

"It must've slipped her mind Sir"

"I'm sure it did"

"Did Fitz…?"

"Yes Agent Fitz has brought what you asked for"

"Come on in then Sir", and with that, he punched in the code to allow the gate to open.

* * *

The standard S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV pulled into the garage in between Ward's SUV and Jason and Dick's bikes, both prototype Redbirds (sans weaponry). He saw Coulson and May sat up front, which must mean FitzSimmons and Triplett were sat in the back.

The car had barely stopped before FitzSimmons had pulled him into a joint hug, while Coulson was trying to carry three different cases from the trunk.

_Where's Tripp?_

"Take it I was missed then", FitzSimmons nodded their response, while he saw May roll her eyes.

Disentangling himself from the science duo, he headed over to his former superior and lifted two of the cases with ease. Coulson looked slightly jealous for a moment but gave him a quick "thank you", before they headed off into the house. He tried to ignore the looks Skye gave him at his short display of strength.

They walked into the living room, which was now much larger. The walls were light blue, with two black leather couches, a recliner and a chaise longue. Against the outer wall was a grandfather clock, and on the side the couches faced was a very large plasma TV.

Fitz let out a low whistle, "Nice place you got. Very sweet. Where's the Batcave?"

He let out a small chuckle, "Thanks man, come on"

Dropping the two cases, he opened the door on the grandfather clock, and turned the hands manually to read 11:57, and stepped back as there was a small noise of gears turning.

The others watched in slight surprise as the clock slid to the left, revealing a small corridor, with an elevator at the end.

Ward walked in, retrieving the cases as he went, and was quickly followed by Fitz, before the rest of the team followed him, crowding into the small elevator. Dropping the cases again, he flipped the switch at the side, and they were lowered into darkness.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

And story three is underway with 'Knight of Vengeance' and a revised chapter 1 - I hope you'll all enjoy this as much as the others.

We've now seen the introduction of Jason Todd/Robin II to my Knight-verse. For those unfamiliar with the comics, Jason is the second Robin who later becomes the vigilante known as the Red Hood, which is what I was originally going to call him off the bat, but I decided to hold off for now.

In case you've forgotten you can send me ideas for meetings between other characters set in this universe - I love hearing what you people think.

Don't be afraid to check out my other works.

Please leave a comment below, and let me know what you thought.

-MarvelMatt


	2. Plans

**Chapter Two - Plans**

* * *

"Whoa", was all that was said by Fitz, while the rest of the team remained speechless.

Since the fire that burnt down his house, Ward had had builders working on the new upstairs, while he and Dick had redesigned the Batcave to better suit their crime fighting purposes. The previous white panelling was gone, in its place was the natural stone, which May noted, was steel re-enforced.

The elevator opened up to a small staircase, where Ward flipped several switches, revealing the upgraded supercomputer, the Batmobile facing towards the exit tunnel, with two Redbirds next to it. The Batwing was facing another exit tunnel, which led to a single exit on the far side of the nearby lake, facing away from Gotham City.

The display cases were opposite the Batcomputer, with Ward's Batsuit on the left, then the Robin suit, then the Robin suit Mark II, with several blank cases, and the last case was blacked out, hiding whatever was stored in there.

There was an armoury to the left of the display cases, a crime lab on the far side of the cave, and a small med-bay beneath them. It was a pretty sweet set-up.

They followed Ward down the staircase as he headed towards the armoury and passed through the doorway.

There were weapons and gadgets everywhere.

Grapnels had their own case, with Fitz's claw attachments in a case below them. Shuriken, darts and batarangs had a wall dedicated to them. Several various prototypes in different sizes were on wall holsters. There were clear boxes of different types of non-lethal grenades, as well as a work bench with several other different prototypes scattered about. One of which caught the interest of Simmons, who then had Fitz help her look over the specs, while the rest of them watched as Ward unboxed one of his new toys.

After his run-in with Riddler's dogs, he'd decided that his suit was too heavy, and he needed to be able to move better, so he had sent a message to Fitz, who had designed the new suits in front of him.

Instead of the nomex suits that they currently had, the new ones were made of a Titanium-dipped triple-weave Kevlar, with looser plates, which meant they were lighter and more agile, but more at risk to knives and gunfire.

_Well, we don't want to make things to easy._

The team watched, in slight awe, as he assembled the three suits in record time, his hands moving seamlessly as they didn't miss a move, but then again, hand-eye co-ordination was always his strong suit. Even John Garrett had noticed that.

Having finished assembling the light grey suits, he led them back towards the Batcomputer, where he sat, waiting for one of to speak up, when neither did, he prompted them, and they launched into a full explanation of why they were there, including what had happened to Tripp, as well as the Joker.

Suffice to say, it left him with the makings of a headache.

"So we have a psychopathic madman with no real objective ready to kill anyone in his way in Gotham right now … I'll have to alert Gordon", he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "but I wasn't planning a patrol today"

"We've seen no sign of him yet. We don't even know if he's definitely in the city, it's just speculation. It can wait a day"

He exhaled, "Yeah I suppose. You guys gonna stay for dinner?"

* * *

Dinner was much better than the last time they'd all eaten together.

They all stood in the kitchen together, cooking and laughing.

Well … Skye did the spaghetti, Ward made the Bolognese, Coulson made meatballs, and May handled the garlic bread. They kept up a steady stream of conversation, updating each other on what was new. Their missions and his work, both with the GCPD as Gordon's assistant, and as Batman.

FitzSimmons were hunched over the design schematic they'd brought up with them from his armoury, and were arguing over it in hushed tones. He caught a few words, and it sounded like the first argument he'd heard between them, when they were trying to reduce the size of the ICER rounds, while increasing the potency of the chemical properties.

And in the few silences that occurred during their time together, Tripp's absence was beyond noticeable.

When they had finished the cooking and May removed the garlic bread from the oven, they headed into his new dining room, the gasps of surprise, which caused him to help catch the spaghetti as Skye nearly dropped it.

The walls were painted a dark red, unlike the light colours of the rest of the house, room ran the length of the house and was much thinner than the rest of the rooms, with only candles lighting the room, and the long, dark oak table running the length of the room, big enough to seat eighteen people, he headed to the end nearest the door, before placing the Bolognese and the spaghetti down. The candles caused the shadows to dance across the walls.

It was both creepy and a little cool. It was very … Ward.

Dinner itself was light and friendly, they continued to talk long after the meal was finished, with Ward fetching a bottle of red wine and a jug of water from the kitchen, so that they were able to drink.

He and May stuck with water.

It was nearing eleven when Jason and Dick came back early, stopping in long enough to say hello before heading out on a joint patrol, allowing Ward to take the night off, and Coulson got to his feet.

"We should probably leave - let you get some sleep. We could all use it"

The others looked like they wanted to protest, but Ward cut them off.

"Actually Sir, that's something I wanted to discuss with you"

"Ward?"

He stood up and headed into the entry way, before he returned to the dining room, and presented a key, identical to the one Skye had in her pocket, to the team leader.

"That's a key to the house, in case any of you need somewhere to stay. You all even have rooms upstairs, and you are all welcome to stay anytime. Including tonight Sir"

He looked like he still had some objections to make, but the pleading looks of FitzSimmons and Skye defeated any objections he had, which caused May to crack a smile at him.

Giving each other one last 'goodnight', they all headed for their respective beds, with the exception of Ward and Skye. He wanted to check on Dick and Jason when they returned from patrol and she decided to wait with him.

It was near one o'clock when they got back, with nothing of note to report. Other than a few muggings, well a few _attempted _muggings, it was a quiet night for Gotham City, so the foursome headed off to bed, with Jason ducking when he made a comment about Skye sharing his room that Ward didn't like.

Dick and Skye just chuckled.

Jason rubbed his ears.

* * *

Skye awoke to find half of the bed empty, but still slightly warm, which meant that Ward hadn't been gone for very long.

Shaking the sleep from her eyes, she headed down the stairs to find Coulson, May and FitzSimmons sat in the kitchen, as Coulson was making bacon, eggs and toast. Still tired, she dropped herself into the seat beside May.

"Where's Grant?"

FitzSimmons who had both already began attacking the food that Coulson had placed on the desk just shrugged, as did Coulson who placed a plate in front of her, which was loaded with her favourites.

He really was meant to be a dad.

That thought sent a pang through her chest, knowing they were keeping _that_ secret from Ward, the man who was doing everything he could to find his own father, the one he hadn't known, and attempt to atone for his sins.

The father who was stood in his kitchen making breakfast for everyone.

Surprisingly, it was May who answered, without looking up from the newspaper in front of her, while Coulson slid a plate next to her morning tea.

"He and the boys said they were going for training. They're probably down in that cave of theirs"

Deciding it could wait, she tucked in to her breakfast with the same gusto as the science duo, before she headed upstairs in search of a shower.

* * *

What felt like an hour later, but was probably close to twenty minutes, Skye bounded back down the stairs, feeling fully refreshed, well-fed and awake, so she headed back into the kitchen, where she expected the now fully alert team to be sitting, and as usual, waiting on her tardiness. As the kitchen door opened, she found only May, who, still not looking up from her paper, spoke to her.

"He's still in his cave with the boys"

"Thanks"

She made her way into the living room, with May entering behind her, to find Coulson and FitzSimmons attempting to open the grandfather clock - by arguing over the correct time to place it at.

Wordlessly, and rolling her eyes as she moved, May crossed the room and span the hands to read 11:57 before the front panel slid sideways and revealed the entrance that lead down to the Batcave – staircase at the side, and the elevator at the opposite end.

They moved as a group down the concrete steps, noting the slight chill in the air that seemed to emanate from the steel reinforced walls.

The sound of wood on wood collisions rang throughout the room as they descended into the cave.

Jason, Dick and Grant were all shirtless and sparring with Bo staffs. It had started out as a standard three way fight, so that Batman could gage the skill level of his two Robins, but he felt proud when, without prompting, they'd noted his distinct advantage in skill, and they'd taken the necessary steps to negate them.

It had become a two on one fight.

Grant's hard earned skills far surpassed theirs, but Jason and Dick were quicker and more agile, not to mention much more creative in their attacks, so they were fairly well balanced in terms of attack and defence.

Clearing the small staircase, they moved towards the Batcomputer, which was the highest and most central point of the cave, overlooking everything, and they watched as Jason and Dick worked themselves so that they were almost on opposite sides of Grant as they continued to press their attack.

For his part, Grant didn't seem worried.

The two worked in tandem, causing Ward to constantly have to spin between them to stop the attacks. It seemed as though they had him beaten when they stepped in simultaneously to swing with a finishing strike for his head.

He dropped to his knees as the staffs passed overhead, but they all heard a connection as the staffs connected with their partner, and Jason and Dick dropped to the mat, clutching their hands to their foreheads. Ward and May let out small chuckles as the two muttered "ow", as they headed towards the showers, still rubbing their foreheads.

"Heading out?"

He ignored the appreciative look Skye was giving his shirtless form, though it gave him a warm feeling in his chest.

"Yeah, we've got to head back to check on Agent Triplett, before coordinating our efforts with the GCPD, we'll be discussing this 'Joker' character, so we'll be at the precinct today"

"Okay then Sir, I'll see you later then … and probably tonight. I hope you don't shoot me"

May surprised them all by retorting as she turned to leave.

"No promises Ward, though I won't shoot the kids"

* * *

"Agent Coulson. Welcome back to Gotham City"

The two men shook hands, as the rest nodded their greetings towards the police officer as the team entered the doors of the GCPD Precinct, "It's nice to be back Sergeant Gordon"

"It's Lieutenant now, actually", he smiles to himself, "got a promotion because of what Batman and Robin did that day"

"You were a hero that day, and I know both Batman and Robin would agree with me, _Lieutenant_"

Gordon shook his head, a small smile on his face, "No no, Batman and Robin were the real heroes that day, and so were you lot for that matter. Crime's the lowest it's been in Gotham for over twenty years – and it's mostly, if not all, thanks to them"

Coulson knows it's been a long day, after leaving Ward's house, they had to help with a hostage situation that took most of their morning, so the early morning briefing with Gordon had turned into a late afternoon one, and then Simmons wanted to run some more test on Tripp, so they stayed at SHIELD HQ longer than they expected to, and yes they're all, including him, tired, but he's still sure that they've just walked straight past Gordon's office.

"Erm, Lieutenant-"

"Not yet Agent"

So Coulson doesn't say anything as he leads his team to the rooftop of the GCPD, and follows Gordon onto the rooftop.

Gotham City is dark at night, like darker than dark. And cold, so basically, it looks depressing, or at least, that's what Skye thinks, but she knows Ward would disagree with her. She knows he finds it to be something of a comfort.

"Why are we on the rooftop Lieutenant?"

Gordon just pointed to the floodlight, which he had just lit up. They thought nothing of it, but they followed the beam of light into the sky, where a large bat flew high above them.

They followed the beam back to the light, to find a large bat on the glass panelling, projecting itself above them. Fitz looked at the police officer, impressed, "A Bat-Signal? Cool!"

"Yeah. We just have to wait for them to show up"

"Already here"

The low growl of Batman emanates from behind them, causing them to all turn in surprise. He was purchased above them, crouching on the ledge above the doorway, his cape billowing in the wind, with Robin flanking him, the black of their capes forming a single shadow behind them.

It looked pretty badass, even May admitted that to herself, as she scanned the skyline, noting that it was Dick stood in front of them – Jason was across the street, much higher up, scanning the surrounding rooftops.

_Ward's trained them both well._

"It seems we have much to discuss"

* * *

"That's it? A freak whackjob in some war paint? We can handle that"

Batman turned to send a mini-glare at the overweight Detective Bullock, who had joined then and was now stood smoking next to the signal, before he turned his attention back to ensemble before him.

"We'll look into it"

"How will we know if you find anything?" Simmons voice was panicky, obviously intimidated by Batman, despite knowing that it was Ward under the mask.

"We'll contact you"

Finishing there, the two jumped backwards, off the side of the building, firing their grapnels and flying off into the night, their capes billowing behind them.

* * *

Just as the two vigilantes, three May noted, disappeared from view, the rooftop door of the GCPD precinct burst open, as a man threw it open and rushed out, causing May to draw her ICER and move to shoot.

"WHOA whoa whoa!" Gordon threw his hands in between May and the new arrival, before stepping in front of him, putting his body in front of the barrel, defending him from her marksmanship, "it's alright. He's with me"

Coulson gave the nod for Melinda to stand down, and with a begrudging nod in return, she holstered her ICER, and allowed Gordon to introduce them, but before he could, he was interrupted by the new arrival.

"I missed him again, didn't I?"

"Yeah, sorry about that"

The new arrival huffed in annoyance, "Don't be. My fault I was late", his blonde hair billowing in the night breeze, before he turned to the SHIELD Agents, confusion written on his face.

"Who are you people?"

"I'm Phil Coulson, I'm an Agent of SHIELD. These are agents Melinda May, Jemma Simmons, Leopold Fitz and Skye. We're consulting with the GCPD on a new threat that emerged recently, and we believe him to be in the city. If you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

The man in question thrust his hand out, as Coulson shook it, to an enthusiastic "Yes, right sorry. Gordon's told me a lot about you", the blonde haired man offered him a dazzling white smile, "I'm the Gotham City District Attorney. The name's Harvey Dent"

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Okay, and we have a revised chapter two up!

For those who are unaware, I'm also writing an AoS/Arrow crossover titled **'The Shadows Series' **\- Please check it out.

And I'm still taking requests/ideas for future or past oneshots in this series, which can also include members of The Avengers or Justice League, and any DC or MARVEL villain.

Please leave a review below and favourite/follow.

-MarvelMatt


	3. Group Therapy

_**So this is our final revised chapter, incorporating all of the changes I've made, and I hope you'll all read it and enjoy!**_

_**-MarvelMatt**_

* * *

**Chapter Three – Group Therapy**

* * *

They all filed in, one after the other. A neutral ground for their 'business' meeting with a higher-up, or at least, whoever the higher-ups sent as their new representative – Crane was still locked up in Arkham.

They stopped at the door, their own security forces frisking each other, as they sat around the rectangular table, each one of them crowded in, but leaving the head of the table free. Chechen and Maroni rolling their eyes as the other members tried cracking crude jokes, leaving the Russian and the Italian feeling unimpressed by their rivals. The only other one not partaking was Gambol, as he sat there stoically, a guard stood behind each shoulder. Falcone's absence was noticeable, not that they minded, less people around the table meant more money and power for the rest of them.

"Good afternoon gentlemen"

With a careful yet dangerous grace, her flower dress hugging her tightly, and her hair dangling down in sophisticated ringlets, Raina strode into the room to face the crime bosses with an amused smile on her face, "Dr Whitehall sends his regards"

* * *

"So Mr Dent, I have to ask, how do you feel about having a band of vigilantes running around in your city?"

Coulson asked the question, after they had all retreated into the safety of Gordon's office, smiling as he accepted the offered cup of tea, while Fitzsimmons made slightly disgusted faces after tasting it, he found it to be well done. Bullock had followed them in, moving to the window to continue smoking, while they all played meet and greet. Ward had informed them that Bullock was a good cop – even if he hated the caped crusader (Dick's nickname yet again) with a burning passion.

Dent took a long sip from his cup, running his hands along the porcelain, his brow furrowed in contemplation as he considered his answer carefully.

"I like what they've managed to do for this city, even though as a man of the law, I can certainly say that I'm not a fan of their methods, you can't argue with their results. Crime is down for the first time in decades, we're cleaning up this city, piece by piece, it's slow goings, but it's thanks to him"

"Well just who gave him the right?"

Bullock's tone was biting, but he had to admit, he had a point. Ward's actions, though helpful, were still illegal. He noticed May shoot off a warning look at Skye, who looked like she was about to let loose on Ward's behalf.

"We gave him the right"

All of the heads turned to face Dent, who placed his cup on the table, before turning to face all of them in kind, as he explained his statement.

"We gave him the right. All of us that stood by and watched as fear and corruption grabbed hold of our city. We stood by and watched as crime ran rampant and we all did nothing. There will be a day when we make The Batman answer for his actions, but that day will come when _WE,_ the citizens of Gotham are ready to ask for it"

Coulson leant back against the chair he occupied, a smile tugging against his lips.

"You sound like you've given this a lot of thought Mr. Dent"

A returned smile tugged at Dent's lips.

"I have thought about it. A lot. I don't like the idea of a rogue element in Gotham, but I have to admit that I sleep a lot sounder knowing that Batman and Robin are out there, protecting us, watching over us all, our silent guardians"

"Here here"

Their attention snapped up to where Gordon had raised his cup of coffee, they all looked bemused for a moment, before raising their mugs, with Gordon leading the toast.

"To Batman and Robin"

"Batman and Robin"

The statement was echoed by the rest of the room's occupants, albeit very half-heartedly by Bullock. The only other sounds that followed were the chinking of porcelain mugs, and the sipping of drinks.

* * *

"So tell me, why should we trust Whitehall with our money?"

Maroni's question caught the attention of everybody, each of them perking up again after Raina had delivered her speech about the benefits of a continued relationship with HYDRA.

"Don't"

Maroni's mouth opened and closed like a fish.

"Don't trust Whitehall with it. Trust me"

"You?" Gambol's voice was heavy with sarcasm.

"Yes me. I take the money with me back to Hong Kong, where I am a nationalized citizen, I'll be able to continue my work, and have your money far from Dent's jurisdiction, and the Chinese won't extradite one of their own"

"Ha ha, ho, ha, hee, ha"

The creepy laugh pulled all of them from their musings of Raina's statements. Switching their attention from Raina, to the … _freak show … _that had entered their meeting.

Decked out in a white shirt, green waistcoat and purple pinstripe suit. His green hair clashed against his white war paint, and the scars. Covered in red lipstick, his scars stretching across his face in a crooked grin, his stained yellow teeth seen behind his lips.

The Joker had arrived in Gotham City.

* * *

Outside of the seemingly abandoned warehouse, Batman led the two Robins into surveillance positions. Crouching beside the slanted skylight, the three pressed their first two fingers on their gauntlets to the glass, activating the receivers in their cowl and ear pieces, the conversation from below entering their ears.

The upgrades – courtesy of Fitz – were already proving useful. In fact, Ward had spent the better part of his free time tinkering with a completely new suit for himself. It was nowhere near complete, in fact he'd barely started on it, but it was going to be the single greatest suit ever created.

Not that Dick and Jason thought it could compare to Iron Man.

_What do they know? They're only kids._

They'd had their fingers to the glass for several minutes before Raina made her appearance, with neither Robin missing Batman's very faint growl when he got a look at her.

It was so quiet that they'd almost missed it, but the look of quiet rage on his face gave it away, he seemed _pissed._

The growl returned when the clown turned up. His eyes, unblinking, focused solely on the new player in town.

_This is the guy that put Triplett down. He has no remorse, no empathy. He's a psychopath. NO! – He's a monster._

_And WE __**WILL **__bring him down._

* * *

"Who in the hell invited the clown in the cheap purple suit?"

Gambol's sharp voice cut across the room as the HYDRA benefactors gawked at the clown in the purple suit, with several of them giving nervous chuckles.

With his purple suit, green waistcoat, green hair, war paint and scars, The Joker looked like a walking definition of crazy.

"Why … I'm The Joker"

The gawking faces of several of the bosses made The Joker smile, showing his stained yellow teeth, as he let out a low chuckle, sending chills down the backs of the mobsters.

"Besides", his tone turned jovial, he was finding the entire situation hilarious, "the suit wasn't cheap", The Joker's full attention was turned onto Gambol, his tone now mocking, "you outta know. You bought it"

The other gang bangers erupted into snickers, as Gambol exploded in anger, turning to threaten the clown when Chechen, the leader of the Gotham chapter of the Russian Bratva, sat back in his chair, an amused smile on his face, speaking with his heavy Russian accent.

"I want to hear proposition"

Joker smiled widely, showing off his stained teeth and stretching his scars in a sickeningly manner, and adding to his psychotic appearance. Letting another low chuckle out, he aimed his mad grin at Gambol, before sweeping the table.

"I know why you all choose to have your", he used his fingers to make quotation marks in mid-air, "'group therapy sessions' in broad daylight", he leant forwards, leering towards them, "The Batman".

At the mention of the vigilante, the temperature of the room dropped several degrees, as a cold chill swept through the room. Joker watched on, as the ensemble of enforcers swallowed slowly.

"Batman's a problem … and me", his gaze swept across them all, as he gestured towards himself, "I'm the solution. I'm _your_ solution"

The Joker leant back in his chair, plopping his feet on the desk as he leant backwards, as the top men leant forwards, clearly wondering what the clown was asking. It was the heavily accented voice of Chechen that broke the silence.

"You kill Batman … How much you want?"

Joker audibly smacked his lips, "Half … I want half"

Their anger flared to life, as Chechen was roaring, outraged at the demand. Maroni sat in the corner, quietly shaking his head, whilst Gambol had exploded to his feet, indicating for his bodyguard to hand him a pistol.

And the ceiling above them shattered.

* * *

"Robin. Let's move up, I want a full visual on The Joker"

Wordlessly, the three man team inched forwards, before separating. Batman headed for the edge of the rooftop, dropping onto a ledge, and inching his cowl towards a small window, which looked downwards at an angle onto the meeting. Robin headed for a vent covering, slipping a small screw head from the finger of his gauntlet, he loosened the fastenings, before slipping into the vent, and crawling through, searching for a better vantage point, before settling on one, high and behind The Joker, who was pulling everyone's attention, while Robin II moved towards the small skylight in the centre of the roof, overlooking the meeting table.

"Robin in position"

"Robin in position"

"Copy that. Observe only"

Biting back a snarky retort, Jason scanned the room again before replying, "There's only sixteen of them and none of them have any weapons, the three of us have taken down way more-"

"Robin, I said stand down. Observe only"

Ignoring the warning in Batman's tone, Jason let out a low growl before reaching into his utility belt and slapping a small lump of plastique onto the skylight, before shoving in the timed detonator, with activated with an audible 'beep' as it began counting down.

"Er, Jay-bird what was that"

"Flash and awe, Dicky-bird. Flash and awe"

"Robin! I said-"

The skylight exploded and Robin dropped into the warehouse.

Drawing two of his sharpened birdarangs as he dropped in, he landed on the middle of the meeting table and fired the two of them outwards, slicing open two shoulders before they connected on a deflection, rendering two of the enforcers unconscious before he moved for cover, leaping over the heads of the thugs as they drew their own concealed weapons, and landing behind some barrels, crouching against them for cover.

And the ceiling above him exploded and he descended.

Decked put head to toe in black and grey armour, with a gaze that made grown men flee and an expression of painful intent was the Batman.

Gotham may now know that he existed, but that didn't mean his skills had diminished, nor had their fear of him.

Batman was the reason many of them looked forwards to the time when the sun rose in the sky. It signalled the end to his hunting time.

They were the prey.

Landing on top of two of the goons, they crumpled under the impact of his landing, another four turned his way, two quick fire batarangs disarmed the front men, and the two shuriken from above that disarmed the others, told Batman that his other Robin had entered the fray.

Before the four could regain their composure, Robin landed feet first on the shoulders of one, before using him as a launch pad, leaping into the air and grabbing two of their heads, banging them together as he drove his head into the nose of the fourth man. The first three were unconscious on impact, and the fourth turned to run while clutching his broken nose.

He ran straight into Batman's uppercut.

Across the room, Robin used the distraction of the Dynamic Duo's entrance and the confusion of Robin disappearing only to reappear from above to dispatch another two men with his fists, leaping over his cover and using the heel of his steel reinforced boots, he clubbed another around the head, before using him as a shield, causing his opponents to hold their fire, before throwing the three of them together, and firing off a round of explosive gel.

That left just Maroni, Raina and The Joker.

Maroni moved to engage Robin II, despite his initial confusion, while the other two ran. Batman turned in time to see The Joker discretely draw a long barrelled pistol from inside his jacket, and as Raina ducked past him, he fired at Robin, who failed to dodge completely, and the large bullet passed straight through his shoulder, the looser plates allowing it to cause more damage.

Not even considering giving chase, Batman launched a single batarang at their retreating forms, which bounced uselessly off the closed door, as Jason audibly dispatched Maroni, and the two made straight for where Dick lay on the floor, groaning in pain as he held his wounded shoulder tightly.

The Batman side of him was proud of Robin's capability to hold onto his shoulder while in so much pain, while the Ward side was assessing the surrounding area, just in case Raina or The Joker decided to return to finish the job.

The Grant part of his personality was screaming at him to get Dick to the nearest hospital. Secret identities be damned!

But that would be stupid. Gotham needed Batman.

And Batman needed Robin.

With a few curt commands to the still moving Robin, their motorcycles returned to the Batcave by an autopilot command, and they manoeuvred the injured Robin to the rear seats of the Batmobile. Red Hood helped keep the pressure on the bullet wound while they raced home.

Bursting into the cave, the two non-wounded heroes leapt from the car, instantly throwing off their masks, Ward's cowl hanging limply down the back of his suit and Jason's mask was discarded on the table. Jason moved to carry Dick over to their medical centre, where Ward, now sans cowl and gauntlets, was prepping his surgical tools and putting on surgical gloves and a mask.

Jason placed his adoptive brother carefully on the table, before stepping back as Ward moved in, gently extracting the bullet, before tidily sewing up the wound and having Jason set up a small blood transfusion, giving Dick some much needed help to cover what he had lost on the journey back.

With the sedative Jason had administered in the Batmobile still in his system, and the cleaning from his small surgery removing the excess blood and grime, Dick merely appeared to be sleeping.

* * *

When the team decided to check in at Ward's, they weren't completely surprised to find that no one was above ground, though they were happy that their key worked, after all, it was a well-known fact that bats lived in caves.

What they did not expect to find was Ward taking a shower, while Jason, who was evidently freshly showered, was sat bedside to Dick, who was heavily bandaged at the shoulder.

While most of the team was bombarding Jason with questions, which he ignored, Simmons was assessing the work that had been done on Dick's shoulder, and May was listening to Ward, as she was the only one to have noticed the absence of the running water.

Freshly showered and changed into a plain grey t-shirt and sweats, he entered the room, ignoring the looks and questions of his former team, he strode over to the gurney, and checked his handiwork, before checking that his vitals were still stable, and once he was decided he was satisfied with what he was reading, he nodded to himself gently.

He replayed the actions in his head that had led to the injury, and made a mental note to check the bullet he had pulled out of Dick's shoulder for anything that could lead him to tracking down The Joker, who was apparently much more dangerous than he seemed.

Also, apparently Raina was in town with HYDRA.

There was no outcome he saw in that, which ended well for them. Last time he'd seen her, she was obsessed with Skye and her father. He only hoped that she didn't get word of him or SHIELD being in town. Things were already complicated enough as it was.

So, he had Raina back, the possibility of tracking Joker and an injured Dick. The last one was something he could do about now though.

"Jason", his voice full of authority and steel, turned to face his second adopted son, "we need to talk"

* * *

**Author's Note**

So this is my first update for the in a while, so please leave me a review and let me know what you thought.

There's an old friend showing up in a few chapters - three guesses who?

-MarvelMatt


	4. A New Friend

**Chapter Four - A New Friend**

* * *

_"__Jason", his voice full of authority and steel, turned to face his second adopted son, "we need to talk"_

* * *

Jason, after taking a glance at his adoptive father's glare, seemed unconcerned and responded with a casual, "What about?"

"How about the fact that your actions nearly got Dick killed tonight?"

Jason glared harshly at his mentor, a frown marring his features, before schooling them into a blank mask, "I'm sorry. It won't happen again"

"I know it won't", Ward paused as he waited for Jason's eyes to meet his, "Because you're off mission until you've finished fifty hours in the combat simulator, and until I say otherwise"

When Jason started to argue, "You can't do that!", Ward brushed him off, completely ignoring him, and heading for the cave's supercomputer (Batcomputer according to Dick – naming everything seemed to be something of an obsession of his).

Tapping one of the ears on his cowl, the point where it was joined to the cowl opened up, to reveal some of the interior wiring leading for his comms systems, and a standard USB port. He reached to the underside of the table he had the Batcomputer resting on, pulling a USB lead out, and plugging his cowl in.

The cowl appeared on screen, giving them Ward's viewpoint as Jason blew open the skylight. Silently, he began reviewing the cowl's footage, hoping to try and gain a glimpse of understanding from whatever The Joker and Raina had said and done.

He had yet to even acknowledge his old team was even there, while they were all impressed that Ward had hooked up a recording device to his cowl.

Simmons swatted Fitz's chest when he muttered that he could've set up a wireless one.

He hadn't even said "Hello" to Skye, he'd just sequestered himself in his work, and was now focused on his objective, cutting every distraction out in the process to ensure his work was at its best.

Not for the first time in recent memory, Jemma Simmons found herself drawing up comparisons between Ward's actions, and similar ones that Coulson would do. Ward's way of working was a mirror image of the way Coulson would hole up in his office when they were assigned a new task by Fury or Hill. Though whether that was a trait they shared genetically, or it was just the way the two men were taught to work remained to be seen.

Jason slinked off upstairs, muttering obscenities that would make most people blush, while the others lingered. Simmons contented herself with double checking the bandaging and stitches on Dick's shoulder. The others, minus May who remained as stoic as ever, were quietly chatting amongst themselves, and Ward was still engrossed at his computer.

Skye moved to stand over Ward's shoulder, with the others following suit. He was playing short sections of the video, they could see in the way he tracked their movements that he was evaluating the skills of his two Robins, and he seemed pleased with their work, if his nods were any indication.

They watched as he fast-forwarded through the meeting talk, only for him to pause it when The Joker finally appeared in all of his maniacal glory. He moved frame by frame, taking in each second as it happened. They watched as Robin was shot in the shoulder, flinching at the sight, but taking in a sharp breathe a moment later, as The Joker locked eyes with Batman, giving them their first full look at his entire face, from the green hair to the white skin.

"Got you", Ward leant back in his chair, exhaling as he ran his hand across his eyes. "ALFRED", despite his apparent tiredness, Ward's voice was strictly business, "Wake up"

_"__Good evening Master Ward"_

"Oh my God", Skye's eyes bugged out slightly as she grabbed Simmons in her whispered excitement, "Ward has a JARVIS", she tugged on her friends sleeve whose grin moved to match her friend's excitement, "Simmons! Ward has a BRITISH JARVIS!"

She looked like she wanted to break into it and play with it, so much so that Fitz was looking at her worriedly and Coulson was biting his fist to contain his laughter.

"ALFRED", Ward pushed on with his work, "enhance and magnify cell Charlie Seven"

_"__Yes Sir. Will that be all Sir?"_

"No. Scan and create a facial profile"

_"__Doing so now Sir"_, they all watched as ALFRED began to map out Joker's facial structure, moving through other frames to begin to create a 3D rendering. _"Estimated time until completion: Twenty three minutes and fifty two seconds"_

"Complete the scan and crosscheck it with the GCPD database. If there's no match then begin working through other local police databases. Sort through them by proximity to Gotham. Alert me if anything comes up"

_"__Of course Sir. Will you be retiring for the evening?"_

"Yes ALFRED. Shut down all non-essential systems and power everything down"

_"__Yes sir. Good night Sir" _

"Good night ALFRED"

* * *

The second he put the full kettle on the stove he heard them drop into their seats around his kitchen table. Dick would still be asleep until the morning and Jason would've turned in for the night, so that just left the six of them. He reached over and pulled out another five cups from the cabinet.

He set them down on the countertop, before moving to collect the Earl Grey teabags - Fitz's favourite - from the cupboard, before he turned to face the team, noticing something was missing.

Or rather - someone was.

"Where's Simmons?"

"She just left", Skye offered the answer as he turned to lift the whistling kettle off of the stove, before pouring the steaming water into his cup, and placing the kettle on the table, and handing them all their own cup.

"Why'd she leave without the rest of you?"

"We brought a second SUV out earlier", at his look of confusion, Coulson added, "there was a slight situation we decided to help with - so she's headed back to check on Tripp"

"Ah", he nodded his understanding of Coulson's words, sparing a glance for Fitz, who he was glad to see looked unconcerned. He knew that Tripp had a thing for Simmons in the past, and that Fitz had a penchant for jealousy over his lab partner turned girlfriend, but Tripp was a good man at heart and Fitz knew that, so he was glad to see him looking as relaxed as he was.

"Any change in his condition?"

"No-"

"So how'd you nab yourself a JARVIS? And d'you have a spare? I really want one"

He rolled his eyes. He was asking after the health of a member of their team and she was much more interested in computer systems.

Figures.

"He's not JARVIS 2.0 or anything like that. Let's face it, I'm not Tony Stark"

"I don't really see Stark sharing his technology with anyone, let alone JARVIS", Coulson scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion, "so if he's not like that, then what is he?"

"ALFRED is …", he took a sip from his cup, "ALFRED isn't an AI. JARVIS is. JARVIS can think for himself. If he's attacked, then he defends. If he's told to hack the NSA, and hasn't been programmed to do that, then he tries and learns, making little corrections until he gets the desired result. ALFRED can't do that"

"Why?"

"ALFRED is just a computer programme I started writing to help me in the field, like a sounding board or a HUD for ideas in the middle of a fight, but I'm not very good at coding, at least", he offered them a cocky grin, "not yet anyway"

They weren't amused.

"So I left it sitting on the shelf, so I could come back to it when I had myself more established as Batman, but then there was the ordeal with Ra's and the League, and training Dick to be Robin, and in the end, I just forgot about him"

"Something changed", May's still as blunt as ever I see, "so what was it?"

"I put some of the non-essential equipment into storage boxes when we redesigned the cave. Jason went snooping through some of the gear and he found it. Dick re-coded most of him. I just gave him the specialized functions, the name and the voice"

"_You_ gave him the British accent?"

He grimaced, Skye was loving this, "Yeah, I sorta got used to being lectured by Simmons, and Dick programmed ALFRED to tell me to eat, sleep, shower and whatnot, so I made him British. So now he's ALFRED - my British butler"

* * *

"Report, Ms Raina"

The woman in question played with the hem of her jacket nervously, trying not to face her on screen master.

"It didn't go as planned Sir"

Sighing, he reached up to remove his glasses, taking a moment to clean them, before replacing them and regarding her with a masterfully blank look, "And why exactly is that?"

"There's been a … _complication_"

Daniel Whitehall let out another sigh, a slight tinge of his German accent leaking into his speech, "You know how much I _despise_ complications"

She swallowed.

"There's a man here … a thing"

Sighing yet again, he pinched the bridge of his nose before settling down, "I believe we discussed The Batman at length. If he continues to pose a problem tour our problems, then I can have several men sent into the area, who will be capable of dealing with him"

"It's not him", she steeled herself slightly, "this ones really crazy. He calls himself The Joker"

Stalling in where he was reading the files he had on his desk, he leant forwards slightly, resting his elbows on the table, "The Joker? Tell me more"

* * *

"What happened here Gordon?"

Cautiously, so to not disturb anything in the crime scene that the bank vault had become, Harvey Dent made his way over to where the police Lieutenant was looking through some of the money bills that had been left behind.

SHIELD had warned them about The Joker, and last night he'd struck - emptying Gotham Central Bank of all but a few thousand dollars. Normally, these type of heists were bad enough because they left the public in uproar, but this one was even worse.

Gotham Central Bank was a mob bank.

The Joker had just stolen a sizeable portion of the mob's assets.

Their revenge was going to be swift and brutal.

"Joker happened. That's what"

"What I don't understand is why he didn't take everything. Why leave this behind?" He locked eyes with his partner, "Is it supposed to be message to us? A 'come and stop me', if you will?"

"Oh it's a message alright", Gordon pulled a flask from within his coat, taking a swig before replacing it in his jacket pocket, "just not for us"

"So it's for-"

"Me"

Without wasting time on greetings, Batman crossed the room, before taking the stack of dollar bills out of Gordon's hands, as Bullock, who'd been taking a look at the back of the vault, moved to shepherd everyone else out. Wordlessly, he slipped the wand out of his utility belt, using it scan the bills, handing them back to Gordon when the wand 'beeped'.

"Lightly irradiated bills? Little bit above your pay grade aren't they?"

"Yeah. He supplied us with them", he jutted his head over to where Batman was now looking over the camera systems' wiring, "and we've no idea what his pay grade is"

One of the uniformed officers ran into the vault, heading straight for Gordon with Bullock hot on his heels. He faltered when he saw the dark grey and black of The Batman, causing Bullock to run into the back of him, knocking him forwards and he stumbled towards Gordon and Dent. He would've hit the two of them if a hand hadn't reached out, snatching him from mid-air.

He looked up in thanks, but wilted in face of the Gotham City vigilante.

"Son", Lieutenant Gordon's voice pulled him from where he was staring, "you had something you wanted to tell me?"

"Err, yes Sir", consciously, he pulled himself up straighter, in an attempt to regain some of his dignity, "we just received word from Officer Blake back at the precinct. He said to tell you that four of the five were emptied this morning"

"Four?" Gordon grabbed the officer bus his collar, "He definitely said four?"

Too scared to form a coherent response, the officer nodded his head frantically before he was dropped, scrambling to get out of the vault and away from them as quickly as possible.

"Four Gordon?" Dent asked the question of Gordon, but it was Batman that answered, as he and Gordon strode out of the vault with the other two men moving to follow them, heading for the street, the early morning light casting everything in shadow.

"Four mob banks. We located five using the marked bills. If one was emptied by The Joker, then the other four is the mob panicking. They're sending it abroad – to China"

"China? That the best you can come up with Bats?"

Bullock was ignored by all of them.

"Have your men lock down the airport and clear the roads. Let me deal with her"

"Her?"

Behind them, the bang of one of the officers knocking over a trash can sounded, causing them to jumps, Bullock's hand flying to the holster at his waist, only to grumble when he saw what had happened.

He lowered his hand as the three men turned to where Gordon had his car parked, intending to continue their conversation, except that there was one problem.

Batman had disappeared.

"I don't know about you Gordon, but I hate it when he does that"

* * *

Like a bat out of Hell, he tore through the streets in the Batmobile, swerving to take the corners without losing his speed. Underneath the cowl, Ward grinned to himself, _this_ was his favourite part of being The Batman. There was just something in the way that the car moved that thrilled him, and in his opinion, there wasn't a better car in the world, and he just dared someone to try to build a better one.

Not that he wasn't trying to.

It was going to be smaller than the Tumbler, but he was hoping that it would be faster and more agile than the tank-like vehicle.

He had several design ideas and prototype parts in the vehicle storage area below the main cave – which he hadn't shown to Fitz yet – he was waiting until he needed a distraction or a pick-me-up. Once the Scot got in there, he wasn't sure how he would be able to get him out.

It would be like Christmas for him.

He watched as the police in the distance scrambled to pull open the gate and get the civilians out of the way.

He didn't slow down.

They abandoned their attempts with the gate as he drew closer, choosing to ensure that everyone was safely out the way, and he nodded to himself, pleased with their decision.

He pushed the throttle down as he approached the reinforced gates, hitting the afterburner at the last second, blowing them apart.

"ALFRED get me flight and gate numbers for the next flight to China. Raina'll be on board"

_"__Doing so now Sir"_

He tore across the tarmac, heading for the runways, when he saw the SUV appear next to him, bearing the SHIELD logo on the side. A quick glance had him lock eyes with a very determined Melinda May, who was sat in the driver's seat.

_"__Flight number #468425 departed Gate 12A three minutes ago Sir. Flight GPS tracking indicates that it is currently lining up on Runway 08. I suggest you intercept it before it leaves the ground Sir"_

"Yes ALFRED patch me through to SHIELD's radio frequency"

_"__You're connected now Sir"_

"May! The plane's getting ready to go now – Runway 08"

"Don't wait for us. Go!"

She didn't need to tell him twice. He hit the afterburner again, thrusting himself forwards, leaving the SHIELD vehicle behind.

"ALFRED, access Batmobile controls"

_"__I cannot perform this function"_

"Dammit ALFRED! Download the Batmobile schematics! Then insert yourself into the command codes!"

_"__Accessing Batcomputer remote uplink … Connection established … Estimated time until download completion: twelve minutes. Estimated time until task completion: Undeterminable"_

"Shit", he muttered under his breath, "I need a new plan", if ALFRED couldn't drive the Batmobile, then he needed a new way of gaining height without losing speed.

And there was only one way that he could figure how to do that.

"May. Who else is in the car?"

"Coulson and Skye"

"Can any of you drive stick?"

"No"

"Didn't think so"

He pulled up at the beginning of the runway as the plane began to move forwards. "Come on", he urged the car forwards as he released his harness, impressed with the way his car caught up with the large aircraft.

"Time for Plan E"

Wasting no time, he typed in the commands for the Batmobile's auto-return protocol and gave it a twenty second delay, right at the moment that he drew completely level with the centre of the aircraft and the wheels left the ground.

"Ward, what's Plan E?"

There was a pause before they heard his gruff voice return over the radio, "It's Batman when I'm working"

He pulled himself into a crouch on the seat, and pushed the ejection button.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Sorry about the long wait for the update guys.

My keyboard and touchscreen were damaged and it's taken forever for me to find a replacement keyboard and mouse (my touchscreen's still f*cked though) - the problems of being a part-time student and minimum wage.

However I can now say that this story is fully mapped out, and that there will be fourteen chapters to this story. Parts of this are drawn from the movie 'The Dark Knight' as well as various Batman vs. Joker stories. Keep an eye out for hints towards the future instalments in the series - I try to include at least one every chapter.

And by the way, the perfect way to that you (please select one)) don't mind my hiatus / are happy to see me back / thought your world was ending when I didn't update - would be to leave me a review below, as all feedback is appreciated, and I always respond as quickly as I am able. It is a little disappointing to be four chapters in and only have eight reviews guys.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything, don't hesitate to PM me either.

-MarvelMatt


	5. Lessons

**Chapter 05 - Lessons**

* * *

_"__Ward, what's Plan E?"_

_He pulled himself into a crouch on the seat, and pushed the ejection button._

* * *

_Damn that hurts!_

He tried and failed to take several deep breaths from where he was hanging onto the outside of Flight #468425 to Hong Kong.

He'd used the ejector seats explosion to propel himself upwards, straight towards the plane. His grapnel had done the rest of the work, the magnetic function keeping him attached to the underside of the aircraft as it rose into the air, which led him to his current predicament.

It was getting difficult to breathe.

He retracted the line, fighting for breath as he was pulled towards the hull, glad that his aim had been true, and that he would end up next to one of the wheel compartments. Wasting no time, he clipped the grapnel gun to his utility belt and pulled a batarang out.

He _really_ needed to get to work on the extending claws function for his gloves.

He jammed the batarang into the gap between the aircraft's plates and pulled. The air was getting thinner, and aircraft just weren't designed to be opened from the outside.

Panting, he threw all his strength into one last attempt, draining what little breath he had left, and all it left him with was a headache.

The pounding inside his skull was just intensifying, he couldn't breathe, and black spots were playing at the edge of his vision.

The choice was obvious, he released the line.

Backwards, he fell.

* * *

They were in the middle of training when they heard the call come in through the radio. May was putting Skye through her paces, pushing her to her limits, watching proudly on as she fought past her limitations.

From his office, Coulson too, glowed with pride, watching their sessions through the security cameras.

Fitz had holed up in his office, tinkering with yet another gadget he'd taken from Ward's inventory without the man's knowledge. Coulson wasn't sure exactly what it was, but from what he'd seen when he passed through before breakfast, it looked like a cellphone, but when Batman was involved, or even just Ward for that matter, you could never be too sure.

Simmons was in what seemed to be her normal position these days - tending to Tripp as he lay in his medical cot. They'd ran several more tests, but none of them had yielded any results. They still didn't know what was hidden in the gas.

They were just thankful he was still alive.

_"__Agent Coulson. This is Lieutenant Gordon. Please come in"_

The GCPD radio he'd been gifted 'in case of emergency' squawked to life from its place at the edge of his desk. He snatched it up, pressing it to his ear.

"Gordon, this is Coulson. What's going on?"

A sigh could be heard through the radio, _"Batman's on his way to Gotham Airport. He mentioned something about stopping a woman heading to China. We're in the midst of locking it down but I don't have the manpower and-"_

"You think he might need back-up on this one. We're close, we'll be there"

_"__Acknowledged. I'll have my men try and stay outta your way, and Coulson … thank you"_

"Not a problem", placing the GCPD radio back on his desk he reached across to activate the base-wide comms, "Agents May and Skye. Report to the garage ASAP. We're providing the GCPD with back-up"

He spared a quick glance towards the monitor feed, which told him that they were already moving to gear up, so he grabbed his ICER from its resting place in the top drawer of his desk, and without looking back, he ran from the room.

He burst down the corridor, causing several of his agents to hug the walls, sticking to them as flatly as possible in an attempt to become part of it, and escape being flattened by the senior agent.

He burst into the base's main garage, seeing May grabbing the keys for their SUV, he moved swiftly to enter the passenger's seat, finding Skye already seated behind the driver. May moved into her seat, before turning the ignition.

They heard the opening of one of the rear passenger side and turned to find Fitz sliding into the seat behind Coulson, but before he could ask why the engineer was there, or send him back, May had already gunned it out of the garage doors and was speeding towards Gotham Airport.

* * *

They had always known that Gotham City was Ward's city.

No wait … no it wasn't … it was The Batman's.

The city was a living, breathing organism. Each and every corner was alive, each one telling its own story. As May sped them towards Gotham City Airport, Coulson found himself wondering exactly what it was that his son had gotten himself into.

**_His son._**

Despite what he knew the others were thinking, he wasn't ignoring that situation, he just hadn't figured out what exactly it was he needed to do.

He'd even started keeping a diary of his thoughts. He hadn't told anyone what was in it, but Stark had seen him writing in it one time, and by dinner all of The Avengers and his team knew about it and had taken to teasing him about it.

If only they knew just how painful it had been for him to put down on paper what it was that he had written inside.

Ward was almost desperate to find 'him', scouring through all of his old SHIELD files in his attempts to locate his biological father, unaware that he was stood only five feet away at a time, and he thought that was an encouraging sign – Ward was obviously looking to have some sort of a relationship with him – but it was the nature of the relationship that Ward might want that troubled him.

So far, and not counting himself, Ward had had a total of three father figures in his life.

And he wouldn't class any of them as a good role model.

Firstly, there was Terrence Ward II.

If he was to believe what little he'd managed to gleam about Grant's past from listening to Skye, then the next time he saw the other man, which would also incidentally be the first time they ever met, then he was going to kick that monster's ass for daring to lay his hands on his little boy.

_His little boy,_ it just took those three words to bring a dopey smile to his face and a slight sting to his eyes. He caught May giving him a weird look from the corner of her eye, so he shook it off.

Ward's second father figure was the one that left the sour taste in his mouth – John Garrett.

This was the very same man who had made a bet – _A FUCKING BET!_ – with him, with the sole purpose of getting a woman, who he knew was heading towards a guaranteed future of abuse, pregnant, so that the future Garrett could use his future son as his primary tool of revenge against him. He was certain that he'd undergone extreme and intensive training, and felt the familiar bile rise at the back of his throat when he considered what he must've gone through mentally – the fear of brainwashing sat at the forefront of his mind.

The hardest part though … the hardest part was that Ward wouldn't hear a word against the man he'd considered his father.

That was a _very_ bitter pill to continuously have to swallow.

And third on the list was the man they'd called Henri Ducard.

Or, as he was also apparently called, Ra's al Ghul.

The Demon's Head.

He was the leader of what Ward had called The League of Shadows, other sources had called it The League of Assassins. He was wanted by the CIA, the FBI, SHIELD, ARGUS, MI5, MI6, NAVSOG, the Russian Spetsnav, and what the little information they had gathered on him indicated that even HYDRA were too afraid of both him and them to make any move against them.

They thought he was dead after the train he was riding crashed with him and Batman both still inside, but his body had been stolen in transit to the GCPD Mortuary and a few weeks later, SHIELD satellite imagery had picked up an image of him at a private airfield in Moscow.

They hadn't told Ward yet.

This was the man responsible for Ward's transformation into Batman. The man, once a 'friend' to John Garrett at one point, who had trained Ward beyond his normal limits, pushing him past what the best SHIELD specialists could do, beyond even what one of Ra's' own master assassins could accomplish. In terms of physical prowess and level of skill, both he and May estimated Ward to be in the top ten category for the most dangerous person on the planet.

Ra's had done what no other had done though – he'd pushed Ward's mind to beyond what should've been a normal breaking point. The two of them had added more languages to his already impressive repertoire, before adding new topics, such as mechanics, chemistry, biology and medicine.

It was just surreal to walk in on him and either member of FitzSimmons (usually Fitz) mid-discussion on some new theory on the origins of a powered person, or the latest gadget, or even just new ways to improve or adapt pieces of his equipment.

Though he was still refusing to give them access to anything in his arsenal that he couldn't see as they were working on it.

It was even to Ward's approximate annotations that Fitz had redesigned and upgraded Ward's newest Batsuit.

_So,_ Coulson thought rather grimly while the airport came into view, _he's had three father figures – none of which were me, and I still don't know who taught him any of the important stuff._

_God, who taught him how to shave? Or how to drive a car? _

_Who gave him the talk? _

_Who calmed him down and prepped him for his first date? Who did he have his first date with? How did it go?_

_Who made him feel safe, feel loved?_

_Who taught him what it means to be a man?_

_Who taught him what it means to be a __**good**__ man?_

Phil Coulson wasn't the answer to any of those questions, and that made him feel crushed inside, like a sickening weight was pushing down against his chest until he couldn't take it and his heart would stop beating.

The three of them had robbed this man of his innocence in every conceivable way, and they'd robbed him of the chance, the joy, the responsibility of raising his son.

He stared ahead as May blasted into Gotham Airport and felt resolved.

He would tell him soon.

* * *

GCPD officers hurried to pull open the side gates of the airfield, jumping backwards when May didn't slow down in her entry.

The four of them wove between the terminals, scanning, searching for any clues as to Raina's location on the airstrip. The two senior agents smirked as they listened to Skye recounting the target scanning techniques May had taught her aloud and under her breath.

They had no way of distinguishing one plane's destination from another's. Shaking his head at his own thoughtlessness, he grabbed the dashboard-mounted radio and began twisting the frequency, trying to get a hold of the GCPD when the field's main gates blew open and the Batmobile burst onto the airfield, drawing close with them, the smoke trail from its afterburner trailing behind them.

Deciding it would be best to stick together, May slipped the SUV under one of the airport's temporary corridors, seemingly gliding to a place alongside the Batmobile.

Sensing their appearance, he turned his head and May locked eyes with The Batman.

She knew exactly who it was under the cowl. She knew that it was Grant Ward. She knew that he was twenty eight years old, that he woke up every day at exactly half past five – she still wasn't exactly sure how, but she had a few theories on that. She knew his training regimen, after living together for a year she even knew how he preferred to take his morning routine, but, knowing all of that still didn't stop the brief moment her heart skipped as she saw him.

It wasn't fear, no, she wasn't afraid of Ward, or Batman for that matter (not really anyway), but it was a true sense of awe for this persona he'd created, that he crafted from the darkest recesses of his own mind.

He was no longer a man. As Grant Ward, as a man, he was just flesh and blood, he could be beaten, broken, killed, but as Batman, as his persona, as the symbol he'd created, he'd transformed himself into a myth.

A legend.

He'd made himself immortal.

She almost laughed at the irony, considering that was exactly what the men that created him had sought after.

Inside his cockpit, she watched on as he spoke a few words over the radio, before there was a slight fizzle on the SUV's SHIELD frequency, and The Batman's low growl filled the car.

"May! The plane's getting ready to take off now – Runway 08"

She spared a quick look for Coulson, whose face was set in a grim line – they couldn't afford to let Raina get away from them again, "Don't wait for us. Go!"

She didn't need to tell him twice. He brought the afterburner to life again, thrusting himself forwards, leaving their SHIELD vehicle behind as they tried to coax more out of the engine in a futile attempt to keep up.

"May. Who else is in the car?"

"Coulson, Fitz and Skye"

"Can any of you drive stick?"

"Fitz says he can"

"Good, I thought so. The auto-return protocol is set, but I prefer having a driver, just in case"

She spared a glance for the others as their target began to lift off, getting out of their range, but it was clear to her that they were just as confused as she was. They reached the runway, in a futile attempt of chasing both Raina's plane and the Batmobile.

"Time for Plan E"

A second quick glance told her that nobody knew what he was talking about, "Ward, what's Plan E?"

A second passed before his gruff voice was heard through the radio, "It's Batman when I'm working"

They watched as the canopy of the Batmobile exploded, and Wa- Batman was sent flying straight up and into the air.

* * *

He waited for the perfect moment.

The combination of the directional explosives stored underneath the canopy and the Batmobile's ejector seat gave him just enough height to attach his grapnel to the wheels of the aircraft. He waited until he hit the moment of pure weightlessness at the peak of his climb, before firing off his grapnel, the magnetic clamp attaching to the closing wheel mechanism.

He wasted no time using it to pull himself in, but he was just a second too late, the doors closing as he reached them.

He tried to pry them open, pulling a batarang from his utility belt to slide in between the hatch's seams, determined to gain entry.

Raina would not escape him.

Not after he'd let her walk away from them on The Bus and with the Gravitonium.

Not after he'd willing let her walk of The Bus on Garrett's orders.

The plane continued to climb higher and higher as it became harder and harder to breathe. His grip slackened and he felt the batarang slip from between his fingers, falling uselessly into the vast expanse below him. He squeezed his two middle fingers against the base of his thumb, extending the sharpened claws he kept retracted, and shoving them into the tiny gap.

It was useless.

He panted heavily against the door as he struggled for air. The grapnel's magnetic clamp hooked to his belt was the only thing keeping him from falling.

Black spots danced around the edge of his vision, which was going to be the only warning he'd get.

He twisted the auto-release.

The wind whistled in his ears.

He fell.

* * *

"How are you progressing with the training of Ibn al Xu'ffasch?"

She watched as the boy (at just three years old) continued with the start of the training plan she had mapped out for him months ago.

Today was his second day of swordsmanship, and it was already evident that he was going to be a true prodigy, learning at a rate that would put most grown men to shame.

But then again, he was _their_ son.

Both their blood ran through his veins.

Fighting was in his blood.

Leading was in his blood.

Survival was in his blood.

Given more time, he would grow, hopefully to match his father's stature, but with some of her, and his grandfather's, more appropriate mannerisms.

She could envision it now.

The child was already a carbon copy of his father physically. It was impossible to mistake the eyes, or the still forming jawline.

They even scowled identically.

Well … his father brooded.

The boy was pouting, though she had no idea where he had picked up the habit.

But in essence, all their current results indicated he would one day be his father's physical and mental equal.

It wasn't good enough.

The boy had to be better.

But hopefully, the boy would speak like one of them.

Using his words just as sharply as the sword they taught him to wield. He would be able to loosen an opponent's tongue by using his own, right up to the point when he would look into their eyes, and then deliver them from evil.

There was, after all, only one cure for all ailments.

"His progress is acceptable … for now"

"Do not fail me in this"

"It will be as you command, my Lord"

Yes … one day her beloved would realise his mistakes. He would see the futility of the work he was trying to accomplish, and he would return to them. He would have to beg for forgiveness first though, have to show that he truly had repented, that he had changed his ways.

And then she would pray for his survival.

Demons, it was commonly known, weren't very forgiving.

But hopefully, they would be the family that she had always wanted them to be.

The family that little Xu'ffasch deserved.

The family she knew her beloved had always wanted.

Time would tell.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

So not much action here, but I thought it was important to give you all a glimpse into Coulson's thought process, and just what was going through his head, and we get a glimpse of someone else ... something else.

-MarvelMatt


	6. A Father

**Chapter 06 – A Father's Love**

* * *

The first thing he became aware of was the sound of the oxygen machine.

The second was that his lungs were burning.

He jerked upwards, feeling the tightening of the tube his oxygen filter was attached to as he flew upwards. His eyes flew open, only to find harsh white light filling them, burning his retinas alongside his lungs as he struggled to calm his breathing.

His eyes quickly settled down and he was greeted with the welcome site of the high-hanging ceiling lights of his Batcave.

As if to welcome him, several of his 'pets' fluttered about at the top, screeching as they weaved seamlessly between the steel and stalactites.

He took a few more measured breaths to help lessen the pain in his lungs, before he deemed himself capable of removing the oxygen mask from his face, before prising it over his head, and then reaching over to switch the machine off, setting the mask on its designated holder.

Without the reach over causing him any pain, he stood to his feet and he was quite pleasantly surprised to find that he had no pain whatsoever other than the vascular burning sensation, which was slowly subsiding with each new breath he took.

At least they now knew that Fitz's hasty modification to his cape earlier in the week had kicked in and they could confirm that it worked successfully in the field.

A basic atmospheric density calculator sown into the lining of the cape's fabric and linked up to the computer receiver in his cowl measured any sudden changes in height and after the change passed such a difference within a pre-set time frame, - he wasn't sure what it had been set to, but whatever it was, it had worked - then the cape would automatically expand to its maximum area size, in order to slow the rate of his fall and he would gently glide back to the floor with supposedly minimal damage.

He didn't remember it happening, but he was extremely glad to say that the field test had been a massive success.

Minus the difficulty breathing at high altitudes and the passing out.

Walking out of the med-bay, he walked up the staircase, determining that it would be better for him than taking the internal elevator, heading straight towards the Batcomputer, where ALFRED should've had the results ready.

Sitting in the leather chair, he pulled up the security footage for the Cave and his home and found almost everyone else sleeping in their respective rooms. Simmons was nowhere to be seen, but it was a safe assumption that she had returned to the Gotham SHIELD base to check in on Tripp, as she often spent her time doing lately, and a quick cycle through the rest of the house's cameras told him that Coulson was still awake and sat at the kitchen table.

He blew out a breath in frustration, but what he was frustrated at, he wasn't sure.

"ALFRED wake up!"

_"__How may I be of service Master Ward?"_

"The facial profile I had you create of The Joker, how far along are you?"

_"__The structure profile was complete several hours ago Sir, and, as instructed, I began running it through the GCPD database and working outwards. No domestic matches have been found. I am currently comparing it to any new pieces that appear as well as searching through the international databases that have been made available to me"_

"Forget about it ALFRED. If there's nothing to be found domestically then it's likely there won't be anything abroad. He's too recognisable"

_"__Acknowledged Sir. Cancelling the remainder of the search now. Is there anything else you would like me to do?"_

"Yes. Finish downloading the Batmobile schematics into the remote portion of yourself we have connected"

_"__The download is already finished Sir, and I have taken the liberty of linking the two pieces of myself together as one, as the separation seemed to cause an issue earlier. There should be no further issues"_

"Good. That's good … Then I want you to open up a new file. Label it 'Joker comma The', and input any and all material we have relating to The Joker. I want it to have fingerprints, his facial structure, any DNA we manage to get a copy of, the places he's been, known associates, a list of every crime we know he has committed, and even the ones we can only roughly link him to. I want absolutely _everything_ we have filed away"

_"__Understood Sir. Will that be all for this evening?"_

He paused for a moment wracking his brain, before deciding that it would be easier to think after a very hot, very _long_ shower, a meal that would sate even The Hulk's appetite, and roughly a day's worth of sleep.

If he went about his day as normal, he'd get three hours of sleep, a normal breakfast and then a cold shower after the combination of Skye, Fitz and Dick used up all of the hot water.

His boys were a handful at times, but they were good kids (mostly), and he wouldn't trade them for the world.

"Yes ALFRED. That'll be all for the evening"

_"__Very good Sir. I shall have a message sent to your personal cellular device the very instant the task is completed"_

"Thank you ALFRED. G'night"

_"__You're welcome Sir, and goodnight"_

* * *

_"__Yes ladies and gentlemen, Oliver Queen is supposedly at it again. The Starling City billionaire who miraculously returned from the dead a little under a year ago has once again been questioned by police in regards to the activities of the vigilante known only as 'The Hood' and 'The Arrow'._

_It's well known that Mr. Queen returned home after five years of being stranded alone on an island in the North China Sea. Shockingly, after being back in Starling City for just five months, he took in a Mr. Roy Harper as his legal ward after the young Mr. Harper was arrested for attempting to steal Thea Queen's purse. The billion dollar heiress is the younger sister of the young Mr. Queen and she comes with quite a reputation in her own right. Needless to say, the future outcome of that meeting no doubt came as a surprise to many including the remainder of the Queen family._

_The lead officer in 'The Hood' investigation, a Detective Quentin Lance of the Starling City Police Department is well known to harbour a grudge against Mr. Queen and this latest arrest has many questioning his judgement, or whether or not he is using the investigation as a tool in a personal vendetta against the Queen family scion, as multiple eyewitness reports placed Mr. Queen across town at his nightclub, Verdant, as the vigilante struck at his latest victim._

_Both the Queen Family and the SCPD were unavailable for comment._

_In other news the new Powers Industries CEO-"_

"Couldn't sleep?"

Startled, Coulson jerked upwards, jumping to his feet from the stool he was sitting on and spilling the cold, remaining dregs of his coffee onto the countertop, one hand snatching out to grab the closest dishcloth while the other pulled at the few papers he had there, moving them out of the coffee's reach.

"Shit", he muttered under his breath while he dabbed at the countertop, completely ignoring the raised eyebrow of the looming, former SHIELD specialist.

When he was satisfied that the countertop was as clear as he could possibly get it, he sat back down on the stool and pulled the papers back towards him, before waiting.

One moment.

Two moments.

The taller man slid onto the opposite stool, looking at the heading on his papers, before offering him a half smile.

The same smile that he used to be proud to look at whenever Skye managed to coax one out of him, but now it gave him chills.

It was the same smile that his mother had whenever she was trying to hide something from him, and it was stretched across his son's face.

_Oh God,_ he felt his breath hitch silently in his throat,_ she's a grandmother, and I haven't even mentioned it to her yet._

_She's going to kill me._

_Twice._

_Once for not telling her, and once again for not being the one to raise him._

_You're a dead man walking Phillip Coulson._

"SHIELD's newest international agreement?"

Blowing out a weary sigh as his thoughts were dragged from his inner musings and to the man sat in front of him, he offered a smile which felt more like a grimace as he tried to hide what was on his mind, "Yeah it is. For SHIELD to be able to operate in any country, we need-"

"Express permission of the nation's current government, which consists of a signed agreement giving all SHIELD agents the rough equivalent of a United States Secret Service pass in the country, and it also allows them to do their work without breaching any pre-existing international agreements or laws"

At the older man's raised eyebrow, he explained, "I make it my business to know everything that goes on involving SHIELD and HYDRA. Gives me something to do when I'm bored"

"Yes … between your day job at the GCPD, volunteering at the dog shelter, attending every possible school event the boys have, training two Robins, because one wasn't enough for you, upgrading every piece of your equipment every time you find the slightest fault, as well as inventing new ones, maintaining a positive relationship with everyone in your life, and undergoing a night patrol as Batman every single night it seems, and without fail, boredom must be _so_ commonplace for you"

"Well, my day job is only three days a week"

"Since when?"

"Since I decided to work at the morgue"

"_What!?"_"

"Like I said, I got bored and wanted to learn something new, besides, it gives me new techniques for study, helps me when I'm out in the field"

To Coulson's credit, despite the feeling of morbidity he felt, not a single facial muscle twitched.

"Anyway", Coulson cleared his throat, "Raina said she was headed to Hong Kong-"

"But China never signed the new deal to allow SHIELD access after the initial HYDRA attack, and Gordon's probably already asked for a face-to-face with you, and you want to give him something other than 'she's gone, we can't get her', and 'we're fucked with this lead'"

"You know, I think I preferred it when you were a lot stupider"

Surprising both of them, the youngest of the pair let loose a breathy chuckle, "I've always been this smart. You just didn't know it. I do however have a solution for you, but I don't think you're gonna like it"

Feeling his brow furrow in intrigue, he leant forwards, resting his chin on his hands, he spoke, "Well … I'm listening"

* * *

"We're coming up on the target building now"

"Are we-"

"Fully cloaked and coming to a crawl at our minimum speed, if we slow down any more we'll have to go into hover mode. You both ready?"

Pulling his cowl up onto his head, he turned to face his older Robin, who was sat at the pilot's seat controlling the Batwing, while his younger one was pulling on his domino mask, slipping the protective lenses down, which turned his eyes completely white, and clipping his utility belt into place.

Jason had only completed seventeen of his mandated fifty hours in the combat simulator they had in the Batcave before he'd consider letting him go back on patrol, but there was a good chance he'd need backup once they landed and Dick's shoulder still wasn't one hundred percent.

Between ninety and ninety five was pretty good, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

Not where they were going.

"Robin get ready to jump"

_Tonight could be rough._

* * *

**_2 Days Earlier_**

"This is insane"

Gordon let out a chuckle at the girl's obvious worry, if she didn't know who was under the cowl then he was the Commissioner, though he had to admit it, the girl wasn't completely wrong, if the plan worked _then_ he'd consider it genius, but until then.

"The girl's right. This _is_ crazy-"

"It's _Agent, _Lieutenant. Agent Skye. And thank you-"

"-but it just might work"

Frustrated, she threw up her hands and moved to stand alongside her SO. May had made it clear she was against the idea, but wanted no part in their discussion. She'd taken up a leaning position against to the Batsignal whilst the rest of them seemed to be getting ready throw down verbally.

Coulson absentmindedly rubbed his hand across his forehead, a gesture that they'd seen him do a hundred times - whenever he didn't like what it was that he was agreeing to.

"This isn't a discussion", The Batman's biting tone carried across from where he was purchased on the rooftop over the entrance, his cape billowing across him in the wind, masking his body in shadow. "I _am_ going after Raina. Not only is she a SHIELD priority, but she also has ties to HYDRA and links within their Gotham branch which lead to the mobs"

"So", stood next to Gordon, Harvey looked confused, "why are we having a discussion?"

"We're not", Batman was as blunt as ever, "this is a courtesy call. I'm not a warden. If I get her, you'll have to detain her and then you'll have to be the one to get her to talk"

"I'll get her to sing"

"No you won't", Coulson took over the conversation, his voice cutting over Dent's, "Raina is a priority two target. That means-"

"SHIELD takes priority in her capture from any domestic law enforcement agency"

"Exactly", Coulson turned his attention away from the vigilante had briefly commanded it, and turned towards the two GCPD officials, "sorry, but we'll be taking her in"

Dent ground his teeth in visible irritation, "Fine", his tone was biting, "but I want anything of relevance to be forwarded to my office, for use in our ongoing fight against this city's organised crime. HYDRA might be SHIELD's responsibility, but they are _everywhere_, and I'm not gonna wait for this city to be saved by you. _We_ are fighting them now"

He turned to Gordon, who nodded his agreement.

"Alright then", Coulson conceded, knowing that the information would end up with Batman regardless of what was agreed, "Anything of relevance goes straight to the DA's office. Is there anything else we-"

They all turned to the rooftop to find it empty, and Gordon dropped his cigarette to the floor, before exhaling as he stamped it out.

"I hate it when he does that"

* * *

"This is it you guys. Drop location in under thirty"

"Here", he tossed Robin the air filtration masks Fitz had created for them on short notice, they'd need them to breathe during the fall, before they would activate their capes, allowing them to glide to a landing on top of the disused factory.

He was more than confident in his ability to land no matter when he deployed his cape to slow him down, but Dick had little experience in using his for that purpose.

And Jason had even less.

Dick, using the alias 'Wing' over the comms, would act as their tech support and the extraction plan, while it would be up to Batman and Robin to get in, grab Raina and get out.

SHIELD couldn't be involved due to their international agreement – things were still too unstable to even risk a slight breach of it, like they had in days gone by, so they'd had to leave every member of the old team back at Gotham, watching over his city, searching for any sign of The Joker and researching a potential cure for Tripp.

He bit back the pang in his chest as he thought about those days gone by.

The days spent with the team before the big reveal went down.

The days spent together when it was just him and John.

It was strange, he mused, whenever he thought back to his better days, days with John were quieter, but filled with the excitement of a mission. Just the two of them, a team, the bond between them like that of a father and son at times, watching out for each other, amidst the chaos and explosions that normally happened whenever they were together.

Better days with the team were also quiet in his mind, but for different reasons.

They weren't quiet aloud, no, but they were quiet in that there were no missions.

FitzSimmons were more than audible in their lab, tinkering away on whatever project came to mind, visible from where he and Skye would spend time training. More often than not, there were small scale explosions that could be heard emanating from the lab.

They used to be worried before it became a part of the daily routine.

May started the day with early morning Tai Chi, which she followed up with by joining them for a team breakfast, which was always a rare occasion. They'd all sit around a table, Coulson at the head of it, May at the opposite end. He'd sit himself at Coulson's right hand, with Skye next to him. Simmons at opposite him with Fitz taking the seat between her and May.

He could always see the look of pride Coulson's eyes held as he took in the makeshift family that he'd assembled.

Before he'd torn it all down.

There it was again.

That pain in his chest that _burned_.

Guilt.

It was lessened somewhat now though. There were no more secrets, no more lies between them. It was good. He had Dick and Jason in his life now, which wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been arrested (and set free). He had a still blossoming relationship with Skye, which never failed to cheer him up regardless of the situation, and Coulson still acted like he was everyone's dad.

Dad.

_Father._

He still hadn't found his own.

He'd begun scouring through the SHIELD database (not that he'd told any of them that he now had remote access), looking through every interaction and conversation that 'Henri Ducard' and John Garrett had had on SHIELD ground.

He wasn't surprised to find nothing substantial. The two of them were just good enough to avoid being seen having any sort of serious interaction, or they were smart enough to do it elsewhere.

Knowing them both as well as he did, it was probably both.

Still, at least there were definitely some positives to his situation.

Despite the distances between them, the team was like a family again. He might never find his biological father, or find the answers he so desperately wanted, but it wouldn't be completely bad.

The ramp lowered, and he stepped up, Robin right on his heels, and without hesitating, he threw himself off the edge, hearing his partner following him as the wind whistled in his ears, as he attempted to clear his thoughts from his mind.

There was nothing to worry himself over any further.

He had his other family back.

His chosen family.

There were no more lies between them.

And with his Robin behind him, Batman leapt.

* * *

**4 Days Earlier**

She slipped through the streets with the grace of someone determined to not be deterred. Using a combination of the city's bigger streets and its shadier back alleys, she wove her way through Hong Kong.

The city she'd grown up in.

Her destination was clear, as were her goals.

HYDRA, as far as she was concerned, was simply a means to an end.

Her own ends.

She knew what Whitehall's target goals were, and if he ever came to know the truth about her origins, then she would end up on one of his operating tables for dissection, rather than being the one stood outside the theatre, finding him fresh targets.

That was the nature of all things - the world's natural order.

Only the strong survived.

And the weak perished.

John Garrett had understood this, and so did Daniel Whitehall in his own way, and that's why they had both fought with everything they had to extend their own lives.

Even using their own men to blindly assist them.

John Garrett had Grant Ward, and Daniel Whitehall had Sunil Bakshi.

They were all so pathetic.

Ward and Bakshi didn't even realise that they were the ones that held all the power, that they were the strong ones.

Or maybe they did and they just didn't care.

She wasn't sure which scenario she thought was worse.

But she knew that she was true power in a person.

The next step for the human race.

A better race.

She knew there were more people out there like her.

Like _Skye_.

Even just the name made her blood boil.

'The Doctor' had found her on the streets of Hong Kong when she was just six years old. He had brought her back with him to his clinic, cleaned her up, given her the first flower dress she'd ever worn, it was white, decorated in a pattern of daisies, the only flowers she hated, and then she'd been given a hot meal and a place to sleep for the night.

One night turned into two, and then a week, which became a month, before it was a year, and then a decade.

She'd stayed with him the entire time, before learning to become a geneticist, and a doctor in her own right, hoping that she would make him proud.

She hadn't.

She wanted to branch out, to learn more, to work harder to expand her horizons and she wanted to take him with her, to show him the world after he'd given it to her.

He refused.

When she'd protested, he flew into one of his rages, the kind that resulted in people missing, only to be found dead weeks later from snapped necks and slow bleeding.

That was also when she saw what it was _she_ was.

What she was to _him_.

She knew that his daughter would've been one of these 'special' people, just like she was, but she finally realised that she wasn't like a daughter to the man she considered a father.

She was just a stand in for the little girl he'd never had.

She was gone by morning.

And now, here she was, slipping back into the mostly unused HYDRA warehouse.

True, there was still some equipment and weaponry lying around, but very few of them ever came here, but it still held a large security force.

Because this was it.

'The Doctor's' Laboratory.

Walking through the cold grey corridors, she made a beeline straight for his personal quarters, ignoring the security force that was looming. Their automatic rifles doing nothing to heed her stead.

She pushed open the solid oak door and walked straight into the sitting room, ignoring his bloodied appearance and the two bodies that littered the floor in front of him. She paused long enough to reach into her handbag, before slamming her hand onto his side table, grabbing his attention and causing him to frown as he looked at the image on the photograph.

A young woman, her half-Caucasian and half-Asian features making her stand out as a true beauty, the likes of which he hadn't seen in years.

"Doctor", Raina's no-nonsense tone pulled his attention back to her as they locked eyes once again, right before she shattered his world once again.

"I've found your daughter. I've found Daisy"

* * *

**Author's Note**

So we had a slight look into Ward's current psyche - hopefully there'll be more of that come, as I do enjoy taking them apart and seeing what they're up to.

There was also a tease of what's to come, well, several of them actually, and there'll definitely be more of that to come.

And as always, please leave some feedback below.

-MarvelMatt


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